Stimulation of various nerves and tissue has been found to be a promising treatment for various conditions and/or ailments. For instance, pain, urinary urge, fecal incontinence, and epilepsy, to name a few, are indications for various nerve/tissue stimulation therapies. Various nerves and tissue are commonly targeted for stimulation therapy, including, but not limited to the sacral nerve, the pudendal nerve, the vagus nerve, the tibial nerve, and the spinal cord, to name a few.
Leads used for nerve and/or tissue stimulation often include tines for anchoring the lead within the patient. Leads with integral tines or other fixation members can be difficult to extract, should the need arise, due to the retention force that the tines or other fixation members offer. Sometimes, the retention force is so high that the physician can break the lead when pulling on it. This presents problems in that the portion of the lead, if it were to remain in the patient, could present health risks. However, if the physician tries to remove the portion of the lead, that too could present health risks in trying to access the portion of the lead and pull it out or surgically extract it. As such, while tines or other fixation members mitigate lead migration during use, they also present issues during extraction of the lead.